So, what the heck happened last night!?
During the 4 pm band rehearsal, none of our in-ears' mixes were right. Our console was accidentally reset (I guess), and all of the settings were lost. If this were the only issue of the night, it'd be no big deal, BUT...
This was only a foreshadowing of things to come.
We had guest speakers, who are missionaries to Africa (yeah, cliche, but true). I found out (at 3 pm) that the wife was going to sing, and we had to hook up floor wedges. Again, no big deal, except that she had a PowerPoint to show DURING her song(s). Also, NBD, except that they sorta got lost on the way to the church, and got there at about 10 minutes before service. We loaded the PowerPoint on our teleprompter, and were set. Obviously, she got no soundcheck, but our sound guy's pretty good (really good, in fact), so that didn't worry me.
But then, IT happened.
At right about service time (6 pm), I heard my name being paged. ProPresenter, our presentation software, wasn't playing audio. the computer had audio, but not the program. Weird. I restarted the program. No result. Restarted the computer. No result. Shut down the computer. No result. Downloaded update. No result. Reset program display preferences defaults. BINGO, we have sound. The audience actually applauded when the countdown started (probably the first time in history a church congregation has given an ovation to a countdown video!).
We could have started service without our two-minute video countdown, but we REALLY needed video for the service; it was Baby Dedication weekend (which are all on video). The band was ready to start without the countdown, but guess who the bass player was his weekend? Yep, you guessed it...me!
Okay, the two-minute countdown ended, and worship started. No problems. First song over, Baby Dedication video plays. Perfect. Second worship song. Fine. Then, the drummer was VERY late starting the click for the third song, so the worship leader decided to kill it (we started 15 min. late because of the aforementioned ProPresenter glitch) and just move forward with the service...as the drummer started clicking off the third song. It was as if the whole band (and most of the congregation) was yelling "Nooooooooo" in slow motion.
The worship pastor had the congregation sit down, as our presentation operator rolled our announcements video. No sound. I actually heard people sigh and "ohhh" in disappointment.
So we skipped the announcements and proceeded with verbal announcements and offering message. When we went to start the special song (Natalie Grant's "I Will Not Be Moved," which is a bit of a rocker) the drummer rolled the click for the not-played third worship song, a COMPLETE ballad! The look on his face was priceless. Better still was the sound of the supposed electric guitar volume swell that lasted about 15 seconds longer than it should have. The swell started, crested and faded out BEFORE the click even started!
So, we got through that, all of us wondering "What could go wrong next?" I don't know why people have to ask that, because about 5 minutes later, our accountant's husband (who's also a board member, and Saturday night service's head usher) tripped the alarm in the accounting office! The best part about that is that he didn't know the code (to his wife's own department), so he had to call her. Obviously, that took longer than the grace period afforded once you trip the alarm. So...WAAWAAWAAWAAWAAWAAWAAWAAWAA!!!!!! the alarm went off.
Oh yeah, our lighting board we have temp-ed in because ours is not functioning correctly, is not functioning correctly. A couple of the lighting scenes mysteriously went dark WHILE THE PREACHER WAS ONSTAGE!
Several of us tried to explain to our ministry guests that this stuff never happens. We may have over-compensated, because I'm not sure they bought it, although, the missionary's wife did make a comment like "the devil really hates us."
After service, I got ProPresenter to work. It turns out that there is a bug in their program. I notified them, and a fix is on the way.
Has this absolute craziness ever happended to any of you? Please say yes!
4 comments:
Yes. Yours was worse. ;)
BUT, here's the best part: you can take the time to create plans for each and every situation that you just encountered.
Checklists are boring, until you really, really need them. Then they rock.
Redundant systems are expensive, until you really, really need them. Then they are worth every penny.
Brain farts...well, those just happen. Laugh and learn.
I had to check out your blog (since I'm your wife's best blog friend, and all) Good stuff! I understand none of it...but I'm sure it's good :)
My hubby is the pastor of a teeny tiny little church...it is living in the 1950's technology wise...maybe older. Anyways, last year we did finally get power point and a projector...but that's pretty much it. The best part is, my hubby gets to lead worship, play the guitar, and run power point all at the same time...no little booth thingy.
Hope I didn't give you a heart attack with our lack of technology :) Your wife is awesome, blessings to your family!
Wow - looks like we missed all the fun! :)
Ah, the joys of technology. When I arrived at my current church, the lighting and presentation and video systems were a mess. Each week brought another onslaught of problems. I told people it was like playing "whack-a-mole" every week.
The best was one night when Media Shout decided to stop playing the audio for AVI files (I've since learned it was a Little Endian/Big Endian issue). I discovered this problem at 4:30. Service is at 5. I had 3 videos that would not play. Quickly, I ran to my office and qued up all 3 in Compressor to make MPG2s for a DVD. In less than 15 minutes, I had a DVD made of all three. So far so good.
I ran to the booth and tried to get the DVD videos cued up in Media Shout. It crashed. The whole computer. While the doors were open and the info loop was playing. And in my haste, I forgot to turn on highlighting on the DVD clips, so you couldn't tell which one was selected.
Back to my office to burn another DVD while Media Shout restarted. Got the loop back up, and a new DVD made. Ran up to the booth thinking I was all set to play the videos from the DVD player. As I opened the door, the lighting guy said, "Uh, Mike, we have a problem."
The light board was in a continuous cycle of rebooting. It wouldn't stay on for any length of time.
Yeah, it was a glorious night!
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